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Topic: Reflection on Death (Read 3303 times)

In 1862, during the US Civil War, General Daniel Butterfield wanted a new melody for â€œlights out.â€ And so, without any musical training, he composed one in his head.

Years later, the general wrote, â€œI called in someone who could write music, and practiced a change in the call of â€˜Tapsâ€™ until I had it suit my ear, and then . . . got it to my taste without being able to write music or knowing the technical name of any note, but, simply by ear, arranged it.â€ General Butterfield gave the music to the brigade bugler, and the rest is history.

While there are no official lyrics to the hauntingly familiar strains of â€œTaps,â€ here is a commonly accepted version of one verse:

Day is done, gone the sun,From the hills, from the lake, from the sky;All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

What a comforting lyric as faithful members of the military are laid to rest! And what hope in the acknowledgment that God is near, evenâ€”especiallyâ€”in death!

At a time when death and evil reigned, the prophet Isaiah anticipated a day when death itself would die. â€œYour sun shall no longer go down,â€ he wrote to Israel, â€œfor the Lord will be Your everlasting lightâ€ (60:20).

For those who follow Jesus, the strains of â€œTapsâ€ are not a funeral dirge but a song of hope. â€œThe days of your mourning shall be endedâ€ (v.20). All is well. God is nigh.

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Romans 10:9"That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved."

for me death is the beginning of another life, life of fulfillment of the protocol plan of GOD in my life. a life eternal which i will spend with my savior the LORD JESUS CHRIST, GOD THE FATHER-the Planner, GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT-who reveals the plan to me and the members of the ROYAL FAMILY OF GOD.

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I am not the center of my life but knowing the plan of GOD for me is....binisaya nga bible study is available sa www.gcc.com.ph

I see death in two perspectives. One in the spiritual and the other in the scientific.

The scientific view of death is logical-based. It is the culmination of our body's ability, the 'wearing' off of the visceral system's ability to cooperate in internal homeostasis. Either it be in the ceasure of the heart's ability to pump blood due to a clogged artery, or due to endocarditis (a visceral disease caused by age and 'over work' of the heart), or due to neural degeneracy or failure, to the misgenated ceasure of activity in the entire visceral system. Death, in the scientific and biological sense, is the effect of being 'run down' by age, by intake of toxic chemicals over the years, or due to the overwork of one's body by societal demands.

Death, is the macrocosm of the 'sleep' that every sentient life needs. As a dog, cat, elephant, monkey, worm, human needs to sleep in order to recuperate the body for another day, death, too, is symbolically the same way.

Death, is the body's need to rest. It is the final 'time-out'. It is the definition of organismal finity. Every living organism in the continuum of life either it be from a simple virus, to a complex bacterium, to a gigantic sequoia tree, to a mouse or a human being, will eventually die. As we were created and born, we procreate, and will therefore eventually abate. It is natural law.

As even stars, planets and milky ways, die off after billions of years of activity; so too will a simple human life. Which is, in comparison to the heavens, is but an insignificant speck.

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The spiritual point of view I have of death is but a simple one. One that has some kind of semblance to my scientific view of death. As we were created by God in the womb, so too will we called back. All beings have been written in the book of life, and we all have a given time to 'return' to the creator to be judged. Death, for me in the spiritual sense, is the much needed rest that all of us need. As much as painful death can be to us who loose a loved one, friend and what not. Imagine the joy and eternal bliss we will have when we are united with Eternal Providence.

To be united with Christ Jesus, would be, in my personal spiritual view, be the greatest thing to happen to me. To sing his Eternal Praises for ever more.

Death is, physiologically and medically speaking, the end phase. There is no feeling after death. Memories, the concept of the 'past', sensations etc are erased. One minute it was there, the next it is gone. It illustrates the immediacy and totality of death.

There is no concept of 'fear' for those who die. As all feelings fade away. When the heart ceases to pump; the brain will abate within 5 minutes of avascularism. Everything shuts down.

The 'fear' and 'pains' of death are for those who are alive. For those who mourn loved ones, friends etc.

Death is the release of the soul from our mortal shells. Think about it as the end of finity and the beginning of infinity.

How do you answer these questions from a grieving wife of a husband who just suddenly died almost a month now:

Why did God take my husband away from me?

Why didn't my husband ask the Lord not to take him yet as he was not ready yet?

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I can feel for your friend who is weeping and mourning the loss of her husband.

There is no easy answer for such questions, especially when it involves something that pierces our souls. There is nothing easy in mourning and the phase of mourning must be dealt with directly as it is the only way for one to move past initial depressive tones.

Death of loved ones and friends is never easy and always unexpected. There is nothing permanent in this life. As the flowers sprout in spring and eventually die in winter; as the caterpillar is born in the spring and becomes a butterfly in the summer and eventually dies in the winter. As leaves sprout forth in spring and fall in the autumn, so too must we.

Our lives our not our own. It belongs to the Most High. And when He calls us home, we obey immediately. As our Loving Father in Heaven gives so he also takes away.

No one is ever ready to go home, my beloved Ate Ging, but we have no choice in the matter. When we are called, we obey. All of us will be called. The time of our return, only our Heavenly Father knows.

Last Saturday, my husband, aunt and cousin smiffy and I helped a couple - our friends moved their belongings from one house to another. They couldn't afford to live the house they were living. Anyway, the owners of the house (both in their early 70s, Tita Stella from Cebu and Tito Tony from Manila) where my friends moved in were really nice people, to say the least. (My husband said, extremely nice people!) While we were feasting on the yummy pansit, sinigang na manok, paksiw lechon and other stuff Tita Stella prepared for us, our conversation drifted on the issue about death. I shared to them about this friend of mine who lost her husband on September 8. Tita Stella told me to tell this friend of mine that her husband died for a purpose just like Jesus Christ died for a purpose. Life is a mystery in itself and trying to sift through the mystery of life is not for us but to accept the fact that our dear departed loved ones are now without pain or sorrow.

In another thread started by Hazel, about this little boy who was talking to God the same whys my grieving friend asks, it also talks about death is for a purpose.

It's interesting that we're discussing this because we are covering the concept of Physician's Roles in treating terminal patients or moribund patients and their families. And talking about this with colleagues allowed me to digest and ponder more about the issue, in a medical point of view.

Speaking as a Medical Student, religious tone aside, not all death is bad. There are cases in the medical field and instances where the passing of death is subltley longed for. An example would be patients (terminal) who are battling the late phase of cancer. Patients who are clinically brain dead, patients who are suffering constant pulmonary embolism. There are patients, who by their right of patient's autonomy, request the status of DNR (do not resuscitate). Some patients, actually, prefer not to be resusciated if in case of infarction; some patients require and refuse blood transfusion in case of a major accident etc. The result of this, inherently, is death.

Now with all sympathy and emotionality aside, one has to look at this as a physician in the best interest of the patient in concurrence with the views of the patient. Death, to them, may not be as sad or traumatic as say to their family or loved members or even to the medical staff (who must retain neutrality; though some circumstances make it difficult to take hold due to the patient-medical provider interaction).

Nevertheless, one has to understand that death isn't always a bad thing. For some of our patients, death is a release from anguish and pain. Death, clinically, is the abation of a painstaking struggle.

Patients who have gone through chemotherapeutics, Dialysis, etc. Some of these patients struggle and by the end phase, many of them, stastically speaking, have already embraced the prospects of death. As a release from pain.

Death is never easy, as we are told to explain to patients and their families. But the most important thing is the family's ability to accept the given stastics and the conditions. Acceptance is key; it is imperative especially for the grieving process.

I think that is the beauty of Christian Faith is that it provides a basis and an outlet to release your pains and your sufferings. As cold and as absolute is the prospect of death, it is always positive and comforting to know that there is something waiting for us beyond the grave.

What I am trying to point out is the Love of Christ.

There is a specific verse in scripture that clearly emphasizes my point, so let me share it with you;

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.--Romans 8:38-39